Asked about 1 year ago - Naperville, IL
FlagHi. My 7 year old maltase has been perfectly healthy his whole life until I switched his vet. A few months back, I took him to Banfield pet hospital and they over vaccinated him. He had to get two blood transfusions and nearly died. I spent over $2000.00 in one week because of this. Is there anyway I can sue the animal hospital and get reimbursed for his medical bills?
Can you sue them? Yes - anyone can sue anybody for anything. Will you win? That's completely unknowable.
While veterinary malpractice/neglect is a valid cause of action, such suits are very expensive to litigate. Such suits are basically a battle of the experts, with one side saying "this is standard procedure" and the other side saying "this is not standard procedure". In addition, the damages awarded are generally not very high unless what the vet did was truly shocking and outrageous. Finally, the vet’s attorney will allege that it was something you did that caused your dog’s problems.
Short of litigation, you can file a complaint with the American Veterinary Medical Association, http://www.avma.org/
The cost of litigating this sort of case is likely to be more than you might win. You ought to take this into consideration before you get too far into it. Besides that, no lawyer worth his salt will take a fee of 1/3 of a case worth only $2,000 that might require 50 hours of his time. Typical fees for inexperienced lawyers start at $150 per hour in the Naperville area. A lawyer with 35 years of experience can easily command $300 per hour.
Donald Nathan
www.donaldnathanlaw.com
As attorney McFarland-Taylor detailed, a malpractice suit is a battle between the experts and is quite expensive.
If you truly believe you have a valid complaint, why wait "a few months" to even inquire? The time to act was after you spent the $2,000 for treatment of what you claim was a medical error.
You also fail to state whether you even sent a demand letter to the doctor. Given the facts as you present them, that should have been a fairly basic and cost-effective course of action.
I suggest you contact the Ill. Bar Association for referrals, if you are serious about proceeding.
Don't speak legalese? We define thousands of terms in plain English.
Browse our legal dictionary